The Lord's Prayer Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Our Father

The Lord's Prayer is also called the Our Father because it begins "Our Father, which art in heaven..." In Latin, it is called "Pater Noster". The Jesus Prayer is the name given to a formulaic prayer in the Eastern Orthodox tradition that consists of a short mantra: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Answer: Greek

This central Christian prayer was introduced by Jesus, who taught it to his disciples as a model for the way in which they ought to pray. The New Testament contains the oldest form of this prayer we have, and it was written predominantly in Greek (with some Aramaic).

Answer: Two

Two versions of the prayer can be found in the Gospels. One, the most commonly used for liturgical purposes, is in the Gospel of Matthew and was taught during the Sermon on the Mount. Another version appears in Luke, when "one day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples'" (Luke 11:1 NIV). Jesus then taught them a shorter form of the Lord's prayer.

Some theologians and Christian historians have argued that both prayers were original but spoken at different times during the ministry of Jesus.

Answer: Made holy

Hallowed is the past participle of the verb hallow, which means to make holy. The term comes from the Middle English word "halowen," which goes back to the Old English "hālig" for "holy." It is also the source of our word "Halloween," which is the eve of All Hallows' Day, also known as All Saints' Day.

Answer: kingdom

The version of this prayer in Luke 11:2-4 omits the words "your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." These words are included in Matthew 6:10. The terms "Kingdom of God" and "Kingdom Of Heaven" are used frequently by Jesus in the Gospels. Christians have differing interpretations of this term, including the rule of Jesus over earth and the presence of Jesus in the human heart.

Answer: Supersubstantial

The Greek adjective ἐπιούσιος (epiousios) is translated "daily" in most versions of the Lord's Prayer, though this is the only place where the word occurs in classical literature. Many modern scholars reject this "daily" translation because the rest of the New Testament uses a different word for day.

St. Jerome, in making the Latin Vulgate, translated this word as "supersubstantial" in the Gospel of Matthew but as the more traditional "daily" in the Gospel of Luke.

The "supersubstantial" translation is used in the English Douay-Rheims Bible. The Roman Catholic Church allows for various interpretations of this word, but suggests it is most literally translated as "super-essential."

Answer: Flaws

Matthew 6:12 uses the term "debts" in the King James Version, but most of the older liturgical English versions of the Lord's Prayer use the term trespasses.

Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists are likely to say, "and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." This version of the prayer is, for instance, included in the 1662 Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Baptists, Presbyterians, and other Reformed churches, however, are more likely to say, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

Some more ecumenical versions of the prayer will use "sins" instead of either "debts" or "trespasses". The "sins" version, for instance, is found in the more modern 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

Answer: temptation

The Greek word used here is πειρασμός (peirasmos). This line has created some controversy, because the Bible says, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (James 1:13-14, KJV).

This line is interpreted by some as a plea to help us not be caught up in material pleasures (but to be content with our daily bread). Some see it as an appeal against receiving an unfavourable verdict at the Last Judgment, or as a plea to be spared difficult tests of character like that which Job suffered.

Some versions of the Lord's Prayer prefer to render this line, "Do not let us fall into (or enter into) temptation." Other versions say, "Do not abandon us to temptation."

Answer: evil

This line is not to be found in the oldest manuscripts of the version of the Lord's prayer in the Gospel of Luke:

"Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation" (Luke 11:2-4, NIV).

It is unclear in the original Greek whether this word refers to evil in general or the evil one (the devil), and some versions of the prayer do say "the evil one."

Answer: no

Often referred to as the doxology, these lines are not included in Luke's version at all, and they are not included in the oldest manuscripts of Matthew, though they are included in some later Byzantine texts of Matthew. A first century work of Christian liturgy, The Didache, includes the words "for yours is the power and the glory forever," so some version of this doxology was likely used as part of he Lord's Prayer very early on in Christian history.